Summoner: The Book of Dimension

78 Threat Of The Treasure Chest

A warning before the attack.

That was what Peter thought after hearing the rustlings and whispers outside the mansion. Although he didn’t know these shadow monsters’ true behavior, he could tell through their growls that they were frustrated they couldn’t make a move. But that didn’t mean he should ignore that they were waiting for the right moment to attack.

When the lights don’t work again, it would be the time the shadow monsters could attack. Ray’s sword could be of help, but other than that, there was nothing else but their torchlights. He didn’t know if they could survive it this time.

“What the heck was that?” Zack asked. As expected, he was the first to react. No one answered him anyway. Even Peter. He was worried about everyone else. He looked around and watched if something would happen. Everyone was scared. The ladies, including Linda, were on the verge of crying.

The rustlings, whispers, and growling of the shadow monsters stopped, which quite calmed Peter. He looked at the restless shadow monsters outside the windows, and they still couldn’t seem to find any way to get in. ‘Does everyone have their torchlights ready?” Peter asked as he realized that Ray’s broken fingers were being tended by Mr. Benedict’s housemaid and caretaker, as she seemed to have a lot of experience in tending someone’s injury.

Everyone just nodded and checked if it was working as Peter had asked.

Nothing happened. ‘Well?” Zack asked. “We should continue with summoning. There’s no time to waste,” he said. Peter nodded at him and let him be.

However, someone disagreed with their plans. “Are you doing that summoning thing again?” the person asked. “Can’t we just stay still and wait for the sunrise?” That didn’t sound rude in any way. The person was just genuinely asking.

“Yes. As I’ve said earlier, waiting and staying still is not always safe,” Peter started. “We get that everyone feels scared about this thing that we’re doing, but I promise you, we’ll summon something that could save us all.”

The person nodded and didn’t say anything anymore. Peter empathized with everyone since they individually had limits in tolerating scary things. Those shadow monsters were scary. The summoning, without knowing if it would be a success or not, was scary. What they’ve seen so far was scary. Josh’s girlfriend’s death and Kevin’s death. All of them were scary.

But they had no choice but to summon. It was the only option they had at the moment.

“I hope you could summon something useful. A weapon can do as well,” Peter said. He was thinking of summoning some weapons similar to Ray’s, as there could be a chance that it could be helpful to kill shadow monsters.

Zack nodded. “Yeah, I’m thinking of getting some weapons. It’s what we entirely need right now, anyway,” Zack said, quite annoyed that Peter gave him suggestions even though he already had that plan in mind. Peter saw the slight grimace on Zack’s face, and he just shrugged that off. Before, he had seen that he was aware that he did that when he was annoyed that someone told him to do something he would do anyway.

Zack stood inside the circle Ray used. They were recycling the circle Peter created, which was not a problem at all. It was actually efficient. They just had to let their spiritual power to take the circle in control.

Zack closed his eyes and let his spiritual power take over the circle until it emitted a brighter glow. It didn’t mean he had much more power than the two. It was an indication that his spiritual power had successfully tapped into the circle.

He opened his eyes and prepared to say his mantra.

An object from the Atlanchi world;

A box held of great weapons;

Against the bad and evil in my hands, let them be mine.

In my name, Zack Deppe, I summon you into this world!

Just like what everyone witnessed, a whirl of wind swirled around the circle, the strands of his hair waving through the movement of the air, his clothes were not exempted. After that, a cloud appeared in the middle of the circle, and everyone was alert and ready. They witnessed that not all the time, there was something that would come through similar portals.

But Zack’s smile showed confidence and triumph when he saw a treasure chest there, and it was bigger than how he had expected. The treasure chest was made out of steel that looked expensive than normal. It had gold plating as design and big chains with a big head-sized lock, no keys included.

Peter walked to Zack to get a closer look. “This is so big,” Peter exclaimed, estimating that the height of the treasure chest was until his chest, which fell around mid-5 feet. Are you sure this is the one you’re summoning for?” Peter asked and touched the treasure box, which felt quite warm. “It’s warm,” he said.

“It’s supposed to be warm, I think? Since it came from another world,” Zack said and tried to pull the lock, but it was heavy. ”My goodness, why is this so heavy?” he grunted and tried again. “It must have those strongest weapons that were made,” he answered his own wonder.

“Well, how are you gonna open that?” Peter asked.

Zack turned his head to Ray and looked at the sword on his lap. Ray saw him looking at it, and he only gave Zack a shake of his head. “No, Zack, I won’t let you,” he said.

Zack grimaced. “You’re so selfish. I’ll use it to break the chain. Are you afraid that your mighty sword will be worn out?” he asked.

“No. I’m afraid the sword will break instead. Besides, the sword won’t let you hold it; I am its owner,” Ray said.

“Then you do it yourself,” Zack said. The more Peter saw it. The more Zack sounded like a bratty teenage boy. “If it’s that powerful, the sword should at least do half of the work. Don’t you agree?”

Ray looked at his pinky fingers at both hands. They felt less sore with Mr. Benedict’s housemaid’s help. They were just dislocated earlier, but he silently placed it back to its normal position before the housemaid helped him ease the pain without being a cry and whine baby. He could move it a bit, but he still couldn’t make big movements as the pain was still there. He sighed and stood up in defeat.

“Fine. If my sword breaks, you will, too,” he warned Zack, and the latter was just cool about it. He knew Ray would often be “just words.” He actually didn’t mean some of his words, especially if it was threatening.

Ray stood in front of the treasure chest and aimed the sword at the chains. With the sword’s guide, he lifted the sword and swung it until it hit the chains. The chains broke with a loud clink. It even sparked with the friction.

The chains and the lock fell with rattling as they hit the cement floor. Ray quickly went back to where he was sitting after complying with Zack’s request. He checked the sword, and it, fortunately, didn’t have any chip.

Peter was watching closely. He was impressed that the steel chest wasn’t even grazed even if it was hit with Ray’s sword. It was either the steel was strong, or the sword didn’t touch the chest. He shrugged his thought and walked backward, and waited for Zack to open the chest. If Zack were right, there would be enough weapons for everyone to use.

Zack held the chest by its lid and pushed it up. It slowly lifted without much effort, which was strange for Peter and Zack. The latter gave Peter a raise of eyebrows. “Isn’t it supposed to be—” Peter stopped when the chest quickly opened and threatened to attack Zack. Fortunately, Zack was quick to fall back. “What the heck?” Peter exclaimed.

The treasure chest started to move with its annoying sound that had almost everyone cover their ears. Zack stood up quickly and ran away, but the giant treasure chest still followed him. “Do something about it!” Zack screamed.

The treasure chest could eat Zack if it successfully chased him. Peter ran to take the steel chair and hit the treasure chest, but the steel chair only bent.

Ray also tried using the sword, but it only clinked and left a small unnoticeable dent. The steel was too hard.

Zack, who was losing his option, turned away with a sprint when he remembered his shotgun. He wasn’t sure if it would work, but he still got his shotgun. He aimed the shotgun at the mouth of the treasure chest, facing it head-on.

He shot the shotgun at the right timing, and since it had an exploding effect of force, the lid of the treasure chest flew open, disconnecting its hinges.

The treasure chest halted just at the edge of the summoning circle. Peter, Ray, and Zack gathered to look at what was inside there and many things. Disappointingly, most of them weren’t that helpful. There were slightly rusty weapons, but they still took it.

Peter sighed. He didn’t know if they would die from the shadow monsters or summoning. Well, he would know the answer because he was the next to summon.